We need a new Nimrod!
Months after axing of £4.1bn fleet, MOD to buy U.S. spy in the sky
MINISTERS are ready to spend hundreds of millions of pounds on new spy planes – just months after controversially chopping up a £4.1billion fleet of nine unused Nimrods to save money.
A senior RAF officer revealed the Ministry of Defence wants the new planes to plug a ‘capability gap’ left by the loss of the Nimrods.
David Cameron axed the ‘spy-inthe-sky’ Nimrod MRA4 aerial surveillance planes in October 2010, prompting criticism from top military figures and MPS who warned it would weaken Britain’s defences.
But even though the then Defence Secretary Liam Fox admitted at the time the move was a ‘ risk’, ministers pressed on, claiming it would save the MOD £2billion over the next ten years. Fury mounted when photographs emerged last year of wrecking crews chopping the wings off the Nimrods, which never even became operational.
Now ministers are facing fresh humiliation after it emerged the cash-strapped MOD is likely to buy ‘off-the-shelf’ RC-135 Rivet Joint or P-8 Poseidon aircraft, both made by U.S. aerospace giant Boeing.
Air Vice Marshal Mark Green, director of the Mod’s joint and air capability transformation, said: ‘The underlying view of the MOD is that an aircraft is likely over the medium term to be the solution that actually fills the gap that was created when we took the Nimrod out of service.’
The RAF officer was giving evidence to the Commons’ defence select committee, which has launched an inquiry into the UK’S maritime surveillance capability. He insisted the decision to demolish the Nimrods had been a ‘tolerable risk, not a gamble’.
But Labour defence spokesman Jim Murphy said: ‘The Government treated probably the most expensive, technically capable aircraft in our history like a secondhand car. They just scrapped it and chopped it into pieces.’ An MOD spokesman said: ‘The decision not to bring the Nimrod MRA4 into service was difficult but our ability to operate maritime patrol aircraft is being maintained.
‘Only one Nimrod MRA4 had been delivered to the RAF and it had not passed airworthiness tests, the project was hundreds of millions over budget, years late and needed considerable extra funding to rectify long-running technical problems.’